Powell, Kevin. "Hip-Hop Is the Most Important Youth Culture on the Planet." Interview.

Time 22 Sept. 2000: n. pag. Web.

This source is a Time magazine interview. The interviewee is Kevin Powell, a famous
political activist, writer, poet, and entrepreneur. Throughout the interview, Powell is very
adamant about hip hops identity as an extremely significant folk art. He talks about how hip hop
has crossed over, meaning it is consumed by white youth and other races, not just AfricanAmericans. He mentions the good and bad side to this crossing over; it unites races, but black
culture also becomes an economic slave to the white market. He also focuses on the history of
hip hop when answering questions about the golden years, or if hip hop has changed. He defines
the golden years as a time in the mid 1980s to 1990 as when hip-hop or, specifically, rap music,
was incredibly exciting, fresh, def and diverse. He mentions hip hops biggest names throughout the
years and its musical roots. Finally, Powell spends a lot of time describing how hip hop is a black
CNN. He points out its political undertones and what they mean. This interview is reliable because
of the interviewee. Kevin Powell is well-known and knowledgeable about politics and culture.
However, the information is clearly biased since its from a single opinion. Powell has an agenda of
showing hip hops importance in society. Also, the name of a specific interviewer is not mentioned.
The article is probably intended for the average reader, and this can be seen through its simple
language. The article is more of discussion rather than straight forward, factual article. This article
contains a lot of specific information that will be useful to me, such as the discussion of black CNN
and crossing over. It delves into multiple topics and provides an interesting perspective on issues
such as cultural appropriation and how race relates to pop culture. However, its information should
not be considered definite, since its an opinion.

Price, Emmett G., III. "What's New? The Effect of Hip-Hop Culture on Everyday
English." IPP Digital. US Embassy, 11 Aug. 2007. Web. 28 Sept. 2015.

This online article comes from IPP Digital, a website from the Bureau of International
Information Programs. The article itself focuses on hip hop language. It discusses how a
societys lexicon is constantly changing, and how African-American music has greatly
contributed to that change. It lists slang words from specific time periods that hip hop, blues, and
jazz have contributed to the American vernacular. It also mentions how hip hop has affected
numerous languages around the world, not just English. The article is short, but I think its
definitely reliable because it was published by the US Embassy. Its difficult to determine the
intended purpose and audience, but the article is under the diversity category, so perhaps its
simply meant to promote diversity. It doesnt seem biased. I probably wont use this article
much, but I might mention it occasionally, especially the multicultural aspects. It could be useful
for others, especially if one is researching hip hop language. The great thing about this source is
that there are no worries about the reliability of its content because its a government website.
Reese, Renford R. "From the Fringe: The Hip Hop Culture and Ethnic Relations." Dr.
Renford R. Reese's Homepage. Cal Poly Pomona, June-July 2000. Web. 18 Oct. 2015.
This essay discusses various aspects of hip hop culture and how it has transcended ethnic
boundaries. It lists statistics of hip hops multiracial and international audience. It gives a brief
history, and analyzes hip hop language, fashion, sit-coms, movies, and magazines. It compares
street language to a pigdin, and mentions how hip hop language has permeated into multiple
nations. Urban street prep is evaluated. For example, it is common for young urban blacks to
wear typically upper class white brands. While actual material success maybe unattainable, the
rationale for adorning expensive Polo shirts, blue jeans and sneakers is to present an image of
success. The crossover appeal of hip hop to suburban white youth is analyzed as well. Reese
contrasts white and black youth lifestyles and explains how hip hops alternative culture is

attractive to suburban whites. Finally, as a conclusion, Reese asserts hip hops underlying
positivity, despite its sometimes violent lyrics. He cites Tupac lyrics to prove hip hops message
of political change, and restates hip hop cultures ability to cross racial barriers. This source is
from a college website and is written by a professor with a PhD. It is somewhat biased, since the
author is mostly asserting hip hops positivity throughout the essay. Its intended audience is
probably other professors and scholars. It has a wide range of accurate and useful information. I
will probably use this source heavily since its both reliable and helpful. It mentions many
aspects of hip hops social significance, such as the music, history, crossover, and general
culture. It is not hard to read, yet its academic, so I think its a great source.

Stapleton, K. R. "From the Margins to Mainstream: The Political Power of Hip-hop."

Media, Culture & Society 20.2 (1998): 219-34. Web. 7 Oct. 2015.
This article comes from a peer-reviewed academic journal called Media, Culture, & Society. It
contains a range of information about hip hop history, political power, and implications, along
with different opinions on these topics. It discusses these aspects from the premise that hip hop
promotes peace and anti-racism. The author discusses early hip hop and rap music versus late
1990s hip hop. It is discussed if hip hop has gone too mainstream or if it has lost its original
message of black activism. Stapleton also analyzes how hip hop uses confrontational and
pragmatic lyrics to promote social, ethical, and racial change. The general purpose of the music
is mentioned as well. The author mentions that some consider rap to be a black mans CNN
through its raw portrayal of inner city life. Some of hip hops more controversial themes are
mentioned as well, specifically its sexism and violence. Specific experiments regarding black
versus white reactions to politically radical rap and violent rap are analyzed as well. Lastly, the
wide audience of hip hop culture is inspected. Stapleton lists various reasons that the culture is so

popular, and how it affects various youth. I think this source is reliable because of its peerreviewed status and its variety of cited sources. It contains a lot of useful information and
differing points of view, so it avoids bias. Its from a journal called Media, Culture, & Society, so
its intended audience is likely other humanities scholars. The only drawback is that it was
published in 1998, so it is not very applicable to current hip hop culture and rap music. I think I
will use this source for many areas within my topic because it has such an array of information. I
would advise others not to apply this source to modern hip hop culture, and to keep in mind that
when the author uses words such as modern, she is referencing a different decade. I will use
another source when I specifically talk about hip hop from the 2000s and later. Otherwise its a
great source because of its multiple perspectives on hip hops effect and purpose.

Description: This assignment was not as difficult as I anticipated. One of the hardest parts was
choosing which sources to use for each category. Next to that, all I had to do was get a good idea
of what each source had to offer. I think this assignment was useful because it made me
thoroughly read my sources. This helped me later on when I was figuring out what information
to use where in my EIP.